Frédéric Fontenoy's Erotic Photographic Fictions

Frédéric Fontenoy (born 1963, Paris) creates staged photographic works exploring desire, influenced by Georges Bataille, Pierre Molinier, Luis Buñuel, and Hans Bellmer. His series began with 'arachnids'—women in black fishnet reduced to limbs and torso—then evolved into elaborate, unretouched scenes shot with a large-format camera in a single room. These tableaux feature eroticized female bodies amid props, with a male figure—an alter ego of the artist—gradually appearing, first as fragmented body parts, then fully costumed as a 1940s gentleman (round spectacles, slicked hair, black suit, Legion of Honour). The man orchestrates ritualized ceremonies, turning women into objects. Fontenoy's self-portraits engage with family mythology, notably his grandfather Jean Fontenoy, a Dada-affiliated figure who collaborated during WWII. Props from family attics (bilboquets, phonographs, oil lamps, sewing mannequins, iron beds, chamber pots, books) serve as vocabulary for his fictions. Mirrors question perception, revealing forbidden views à la Courbet. The artist is both voyeur and viewed, blurring reality and fiction. Léa Bismuth, a critic with degrees in philosophy and art history, wrote the text. A solo show was held at Sparts Gallery, Paris, December 7–31, 2011.